A former Missouri hospital worker was charged this month with the murder of a patient who died two decades ago in her care.
Jennifer Ann Hall, 41, is accused of using a lethal dose of muscle relaxant and morphine to kill 75-year-old Fern Franco at Hedrick Medical Center in 2002, according to Livingston County Attorney Adam Warren.
Hall worked as a respiratory therapist at the medical center for five months from 2001 to 2002 – and during this short stay, the rural hospital in Missouri saw that the number of patients suffering sudden cardiac arrests skyrocketed.
The hospital suffered 18 “blue codes” of sudden cardiac arrests during Hall’s work, compared to an average of one a year, according to an investigator.
Franco, who was among the patients with “blue codes”, died in her hospital bed. Another eight, including patients aged 49 and 37, also died, while nine others survived.
At the time, Franco was being treated for pneumonia and suffered a “horrific death by suffocation” while fully conscious, according to a statement of probable cause written by Chillicothe officer Brian Schmid.
“Hall’s victim was a sick, defenseless elderly woman who depended on Hall to care for a physical illness in a medical facility,” Schmid wrote.
April Franco, Fern’s granddaughter, holds a photo of Fern when she was young. April Franco via AP
Hospital officials at the time were warned of fears that Hall might be involved in the impressive rise in sudden cardiac arrests, but “did everything in the world to cover it up” to avoid publicity, said County Coroner Scott Lindley.
The hospital fired Hall five months later, not because of the suspicious rise in heart deaths, but because administrators learned of a previous arson sentence, according to her lawyer. Hall was found guilty of setting fire to another small hospital where she had previously worked. She was acquitted of the crime of a new trial in 2005 after spending a year behind bars.
Criminal investigations into the patients’ deaths were not launched until two years after Warren was elected prosecutor in 2010.
Relatives of five of the deceased patients sought justice on their own in 2010 through a wrongful death case against the hospital and its new parent company, the St. Luke’s Health System. However, the Missouri Supreme Court ruled that it was filed after the expiration of the statute of limitations and rejected the lawsuit in 2019.
Franco’s 44-year-old granddaughter, April Franco, said she hoped her grandmother’s case would help close all families who have lost loved ones.
“Just for the other families,” said Franco of Kansas City, Missouri. “They have been waiting 20 years for answers. My grandmother’s case depends on finding the answers to them. “
Hall pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder on Thursday and was jailed on bail.
It is unclear whether she will face additional murder charges in connection with other patients who have survived cardiac arrest under her care. The deaths of the other eight patients were then thought to be natural causes.
Hall’s lawyer, Matt O’Connor, said his client was innocent. He said she did not have access to the drugs that killed Franco or any drugs in her role as a respiratory therapist.
With postal wires
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